welcome to watch mojo's the verdict
the series where we tackle the biggest
debates in pop culture and put them to
rest
today we'll be deciding once and for all
is godzilla a good guy monarch
is uniquely prepared to determine which
of these titans are here to threaten
us he's a simon guardian a watchful
protector
remember like any high-profile court
case there are strong arguments to be
made on both sides
if you disagree with our verdict be sure
to state your case in the comments below
let's dive in oh but first a spoiler
warning is in effect
[Music]
as the most popular and arguably first
kaiju in cinematic history godzilla
casts a massive shadow
with 36 films to his name and counting
godzilla truly earns his title as the
king of the monsters
but while monster typically has a
negative connotation
godzilla is an official cultural
ambassador of shinjuku tokyo
mayor kenichi yoshizumi has called the
character quote
the pride of japan kind words for a
creature that levels cities
but such is the duality at the heart of
this debate you're
tearing me apart godzilla is an
instantly recognizable pop culture icon
but is he the good guy
let's consider the evidence i got boxes
of tapes
evidence other documents proving it
changing allegiances when touhou first
unleashed godzilla upon the world he was
portrayed as a creature of senseless
destruction
a villain
[Music]
to understand godzilla's early years you
have to consider japan's then recent
history
namely the nuclear devastation they
experienced during world war ii
and so the first godzilla film released
in 1954
introduced the massive reptile as being
born of american nuclear tests
he was the fear anxiety and fallout of
nuclear weapons personified
there is a trend in pop culture however
in which villains who find
lasting popularity risk being recast as
an ally or anti-hero
come with me if you want to live it's
okay mom he's here to help
it's okay sure enough in 1964's ghidorah
the three-headed monster
the fifth film in the franchise godzilla
became an unlikely savior
since then the films have more often
than not pitted him against a variety of
worse kaiju
against this slew of mutual threats
godzilla and humankind found themselves
allies the hero worship of godzilla
began in earnest
he became the people's kaiju people's
champion
sounds pretty good to me motives
you're that stu i think she wants a
motive
godzilla has saved the day more than
once but
what drives him has he developed a
relationship with humanity and taken it
upon himself to serve as our titan
protector
or is he simply committed to keeping
other kaiju down
revisiting godzilla's actions it's
incredibly difficult to discern whether
he bristles at kaiju attacking humans
or whether he simply takes issue with
any show of force from another kaiju
as with any long-running franchise the
character's motivations have evolved
over time
surveying his career after 1964 however
a relatively consistent pattern emerges
he does not attack individual humans
unless provoked
but he also does not go out of his way
to protect them
that was interesting
[Music]
this leads to the conclusion that
godzilla's motivations are not
altruistic
but rather self-serving godzilla appears
to be single-mindedly focused on
defeating those he views as being a
threat to his status as earth's alpha
being
classic dominant alpha territorial
behavior collateral damage
this is war peacock casualties are
inevitable you cannot make an omelet
without breaking eggs every cook will
tell you that but look what happened to
the coke
sometimes doing the right thing is
destructive just
ask superman and his fellow heroes how
many buildings have they totaled in the
name of the greater good
the greater good while a superhero
throwdown is invariably messy
the good guys consistently make
compromises in battle to minimize loss
of life
you need men in these buildings there
are people inside and they're going to
be running right into the line of fire
you take them to the basement or to the
subway you keep them off the streets
in contrast godzilla seems wholly
focused on the task at hand
property damage and casualties be damned
[Applause]
[Music]
in any kaiju brawl the blame is hard to
place
when two giant creatures are pushing
each other around who destroyed which
building doesn't really matter
everything fades together to simply
become their environment
looking at the destruction caused by
these battles however once again
underlines godzilla's priorities there
is no effort on his part to minimize
collateral damage
whatever the battleground everything
around him becomes a tool
in service to his quest for dominance
over his foe good thing he's on our side
for now the ends versus the means
godzilla's bill for collateral damage is
high but it pales in comparison to the
potential destruction caused by other
kaiju should he
not intervene
[Music]
sure his throwdown with godora in their
2019 battle destroyed a massive portion
of boston
but there's nothing to suggest that
ghidorah would have stopped there
after awakening the other titans this
three-headed kaiju could have
and likely would have brought about the
end of civilization as we know it
godzilla's methods leave much to be
desired but at the end of the day his
actions avert disaster of a larger scale
it's easy to lay 50 of the destruction
at his feet when he's using that atomic
breath and throwing mutos around
but arguably everything that he destroys
would have been destroyed by the other
kaiju
his acts of destruction serve to
mitigate greater potentially limitless
destruction
acceptable losses in the battle to save
the planet there's actually a term for
this concept
and it's called the godzilla threshold i
shall never cross its threshold again in
my lifetime
me neither the enemy of my enemy they
say that the enemy of your enemy is your
friend
but does that make them a good guy the
enemy
the world of comic books is rife with
examples of sworn enemies calling a
truce in the face of a mutual threat
batman and joker superman and lex luthor
when such allegiances are formed
this is an opportunity to find common
ground
oh my god what's that it's bigger jaws
oh my god now we have a common enemy we
have to work together
even when the parties go their separate
ways and maybe even return to their
combative ways
there's a newfound understanding if not
respect when this is over
it's back to business as usual
wouldn't have it any other way the thing
is godzilla's apparent truce with
humanity is never negotiated
there are no terms in attacking kaiju
godzilla and humankind find a common
enemy
godzilla's efforts to destroy the kaiju
benefit humanity
and when godzilla is in peril humanity
may even go out of their way to lend him
support
godzilla for his part however never
appears to make any compromises in the
name of humanity
the benefits humans enjoy are a
byproduct of his goals
not something that factors into his
navigation of the conflict
so you'd want to make godzilla our pet
no
we would be his
the surprise witness public perception
your honor i object and why is that mr
reed
because it's devastating to my case
overruled
good call like beauty good guy status is
largely in the eye of the beholder
public perception is arguably more
powerful than the actions upon which
it's based
who the hell are you we're the good guys
for better or worse godzilla's status as
a good guy
needs to take into account how he's been
represented both in the world of the
films
and by cinema goers looking at the
history of the character
he has inspired both fear and hope the
franchise began with godzilla being
feared and maligned
but as occurs in most of its individual
installments at the end of the day
godzilla has people cheering for him
he might not show up for the parade but
we throw it anyway
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the verdict yeah what's a verdict
humanity may celebrate him but godzilla
is not a good guy here's the thing
though he's not the bad guy either
and i say zangief you are bad guy but
this does not mean
you're bad guy godzilla is quite simply
a force of nature
he is no more a bad guy than a hurricane
or a tornado
he's destructive and causes loss of life
but he's just playing his part in a
larger system
in the monsterverse films his role as an
agent of balance has been made more
explicit than ever
i believe he's here to restore balance
when you think of the quintessential
good guy in popular media
there is typically an element of
self-sacrifice in the name of others
there is a commitment to a larger cause
and an attachment to the concept of
right and wrong
brightest day blackest night
no evil shall escape my sight godzilla
doesn't check
any of these boxes he is a lion
protecting his place as the leader of
his pride
the effects godzilla has upon humanity
good or bad
do not matter to him so why do we see
him the way we do
he's a simon guardian a watchful
protector easy we're a narrative society
stories help us make sense of the world
and have dating back
thousands of years beginning
beginning of everything the hero is
perhaps the oldest and most easily
identifiable figure
and so when a character like godzilla
saves us we naturally associate
him with the archetype of the good guy
but what he represents is something
larger godzilla is more akin to a god
than anything else
and so our attraction to godzilla as a
figure speaks to something
primal a need to project intention onto
the chaos of the natural world
like we did with the greek and norse
gods of old
gods godzilla is an inherently dangerous
entity
that like the elements we hope will act
in our favor
and we celebrate whenever he does long
live
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